Africa-Press – Mozambique. Members of Mozambique’s former rebel movement Renamo on Wednesday shut down the party’s offices in Massinga district, in the southern province of Inhambane, and burned propaganda material displaying the portrait of the party’s leader, Ossufo Momade.
Renamo members in Massinga are demanding the resignation of Momade because he is allegedly responsible for the party losing its former status as the dominant force in the opposition. They claim that Momade is also responsible for the lack of internal dialogue and corruption during the seven years that he has been leading the party.
They also blame Momade for Renamo’s poor performance in the 9 October general elections when he obtained only 5.81 per cent of the votes, the worst ever result for a Renamo presidential candidate. Renamo dropped to third position, behind both the ruling Frelimo Party and the Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), which had backed the independent presidential candidate, Venâncio Mondlane.
Renamo only won 28 seats in the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic losing its status as the second largest political force to Podemos, which has 43 representatives in the new parliament.
According to one of the former guerrillas in Massinga, Alexandre Nucumba, Momade is responsible for unfulfilled promises and disastrous party management, because he supposedly betrayed the ideals of the late Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama, who used to meet with his demobilized fighters.
“Ossufo Momade has betrayed Renamo’s ideals. The party we fought for and risked our lives for no longer exists. He has sold out our struggle, handed everything over on a plate, and we are not going to accept this quietly”, Nucumba said.
“What hurts us is that he kept quiet after the October elections. We suffered one of the biggest defeats in our history and, instead of fighting for our votes, Momade remained silent and the party has stood still since then”, he added.
The Renamo dissidents, cited by the independent daily “O País”, say there is an urgent need to hold a meeting of the party’s National Council, which will decide whether Momade remains leader of the party or not.
“We’re not here to negotiate. We demand a meeting of the National Council now”, declared Nucumba. “Renamo can’t wait any longer, or it will be finished. We need a strong leader who knows where we’re going. Momade has already shown that he is not that leader”.
The party leadership had scheduled the meeting for March. However, it was postponed with no plausible reasons. So far there is no new date for the meeting.
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